7 Steps is played with 7 hexagonal tiles that each have 7 colored positions. The solid color tile sides are for simple play and the mixed color sides are for more tactical play. Decide which of the tile sides to use and choose an arrangement of tiles for gameplay. In standard play the tiles are arranged into a hexagonal pattern, but it is possible to play with any nonoverlapping arrangement. There are 20 discs in each of the 7 colors in the game. After placing the 140 discs in the draw bag, each player privately draws 7 discs and places them behind their view screen. Players may not look into the draw bag, but they may count the number of discs at any time by feeling the bag.

7 Steps is a turn based game. Turns are played clockwise until the end of the round in which the end game condition has been met. Turns consists of the following phases:

• Placement Aid Card
• Placement
• Victory Point Card
• Scoring
• Bonus Card
• End of Turn

If a player has a placement aid card, they may play it at the beginning of their turn. The card is placed in the discard pile next to the placement aid deck. Placement aid cards allow a player to take an action before placement begins. There are 10 placement aid cards (2 of each of the following 5 types):

A player may begin placing discs on the board with any of the discs behind their view screen. Placement must adhere to the following rules:

• Players must play at least one disc if possible. It is not necessary to play any other disc.
• If a placement card with the caption (Max 5 Placements) is played, then at most 5 discs may be placed that turn.
• Discs may only be placed on a position with a matching color.
• The first placed disc must be placed in the lowest possible level of the matching color.
• All subsequent discs must be placed adjacent to the previously placed disc.
• Discs may be stacked into towers. All discs must be placed in the same level or one level higher than the previously placed disc.
• It is not permitted to place more than one disc in the same position per turn.
• If a tower reaches level 7, then each of the 7 positions of the matching color on the board receive one disc from that tower. Therefore, the tower returns to level 1.

If a player has a victory point card, they may play it after they finish placing their discs. The card is placed in the discard pile next to the victory point deck. Victory point cards provide additional points based on the discs that were placed that turn. There are 10 victory point cards as shown below:

In addition to points earned by their victory point card, a player scores points for each disc that was placed. Each disc is worth the level it was placed into. For example, placing into levels 1, 1, 2, 2, 3 would earn 1 + 1 + 2 + 2 + 3 = 9 points.

If 7 or less total points were earned (including any victory point card played), then the player may choose to draw one card from either the placement aid deck or victory point deck. If they already have one of the same type of card drawn, they must discard one of them so that no player ever keeps more than one bonus card of the same type.

At the end of their turn, players may choose to discard any of their discs. By default, whenever a disc is discarded it is returned to the bag. Whenever the end game condition has been met, all discarded discs are returned to the box. After discarding, the player draws discs until they have 7 discs or the bag is empty. If either of the bonus card decks are empty, their discard pile is shuffled to reform the deck.

If a player is unable to restock back up to 7 discs at the end of their turn, the end game condition has been met. The game ends at the end of the current round. Players earn an additional 2 points per unused bonus card. The player with the most victory points wins.

For a longer and more strategic game, players can agree to play one additional round after the end game condition is met before beginning the game.